Time To Visit Powder River!

Back in January the good news came in that Colonial Radio Theatre was going to podcast some of their work through The Sonic Society. Well, the time is here!

The first two episodes of Colonial's hit western series, Powder River, entitled "The New Owner," and "The Moment of Truth." are available now!

http://sonic.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=312243

Also included is an interview with Powder River's producer Chris Snyder.

Colonial Radio Theatre Venturing Into SciFi!

Was traveling through the series of tubes this evening and found this goodie posted over on SFF Audio! Then I immediately went to the Colonial Radio Theatre Blog for more! Jerry Robbins writes:

"In all the years we have been producing radio plays at CRT, we have never done science fiction. Even the three productions we have done with Ray Bradbury were not quite sci-fi ... more fantasy I would say.
Well, that will change this summer! I am VERY excited to tell you all that we are going to produce BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR-ROBOT. This was a book written by Walter Koenig in 1988. Walter played Pavel Chekov in TV's STAR TREK, as well as in seven of the motion pictures. He also is known for the role of AlfredBester in Babylon 5."

More of Jerry's thoughts HERE! Very exciting news indeed! Knowing the high-quality in all Colonial's other productions, this is sure to be a great listen! Especially with Koenig appearing in it as well!

Colonial Radio getting some podcast play!

The insanely popular Sonic Society has declared 2008 "The Year of Audio Drama" (what- not "pulp radio"? ;-) ) and they have found the best way to celebrate- with Colonial Radio Theatre! From the SS blog:

"Colonial Radio Theatre, who's amazing productions have included Captain Blood, the Father Brown Mysteries, Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes as well as The Dibble Show, Powder River and more than 200 other titles has agreed to allow the Sonic Society an exclusive peek inside their vault.
This year Society Members will be taking a V.I.P. tour through the worlds of Colonial Radio thanks to creative force, producer, writer, and actor Jerry Robbins.
Every month in 2008- The Year of Audio Drama, Jack and Shannon will be adding an extra show to the Society feed to provide these bonus features."

Exciting stuff- and a great idea! What a fabulous way to tell others about your work- and a good place to do it, too. Click the title link for more information about what productions you will be hearing this year!

Colonial Radio's Next Big Thing- Zorro!

Jerry Robbins just amazes me. As soon as Colonial Radio Theatre comes off one production, he just seems to take a quick breath, and dives right into the next big endeavor. Captain Blood, Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes...I'm not even scratching the surface of all the Colonial productions out there. What's up next? Zorro! From the Colonial blog:

"...Colonial has teamed with producer John Gertz to bring ZORRO to the world of audio drama! Mr. Gertz owns the copyright to Zorro (which was aquired by his father in 1940 from Zorro's actual creator,Johnston McCulley), and he was co-producer on the recent motion pictures with Antonio Banderas. The book I am dramatizing for audio is ZORRO AND THE PIRATRE RAIDERS, and let me tell you - this is going to be one exciting story! I am finishing up the script now, and I hope to start production in January for a Springtime release. The show is being produced in episode form for radio, and will be released as a 2 CD set for retail."

By now you all should know the high quality productions of Colonial Radio, and this will be no different I'm sure. I'm excited for this- get me on a pre-order list!

Halloween Audio Links

I had intended to have many posts up showing you all the great Halloween fun in the audio cinema universe. I was all prepared to come home from my trip to the middle of the United States and do this for all my fellow addicts...

...and then I caught a (not so) lovely head cold. Which stole another week from me. *sigh*

So, since we are getting awfully close to that wonderful All Hallow's Eve, I decided to give you the condensed version! That way you can still head over and listen to these wonderful productions, and have a few chills creep up your spine in honor of the holiday. Mu-wah-hahahaaaa...

* Radio Drama Revival has an entire line-up of ghoulish delights awaiting your ears.. including Frankenstein: Modern Prometheus, as adapted by Quicksilver Audio Theatre.

* Broken Sea Audio is also celebrating with several Halloween audio happenings, both original as well as some readings from the suspense greats! (Also an awesome banner to get in the spirit of things!)

* The Sonic Society is celebrating with their Halloween show on the 30th with a new production from Sonic Cinema, Muse of Madness.

* Colonial Radio Theatre's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is now available too! I've listened to it (yes the review-writing hasn't exactly been as forthcoming as I'd hoped) and I highly recommend adding this to your repertoire of audio theatre classics! It's one of my favorite stories, as well as one of the first to scare me before my Stephen King fixation began. Colonial, as always, has a unique way of whisking you off to an entirely different place for a couple of hours, and this is no exception. You can get all the ordering details at their website!

* Ollin Production's Afterhell series is always available, and especially fits this time of year too!

UPDATE: Icebox Radio Theatre is podcasting their Halloween production from last year, "The Bats".

I am sure I have missed a few here and there. But if you click on any of the radio drama links on the sidebar, I am sure you will find many more Halloween-happenings. If you're not on the list- let me know!

Creepy Colonial Radio

Oh my favorite time of year is quickly approaching! See, since I live in Arizona, there is no change in the weather to signal a change in seasons.. so I have to rely on what I see in stores and what is playing in movies and tv... and in radio drama!

Colonial Radio Theatre has an extensive list of spooky audio to satisfy during the upcoming "spooky month"... including the premiere of Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" on October 1st! (Look for a review soon!) Other things you will want to check out are:

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (2005)
Washington Irving's classic story of the Headless Horseman in the
definitive audio production by CRT. Winner of the Ogle Award for Best
Fantasy Production of 2005. 100 min. Available at Barnes and Noble,
Borders Books, and many, many stores online, including Spoken
Network. Just search "Legend of Sleepy Hollow Colonial Radio" and
there it is!

THE DEVILS BARGAIN (1997)
A classic New England legend…General Jonathan Moulton, hero of the
French and Indian war, makes a bargain with Satan. 30min. Available
at Spoken Network and many audio download sites.

THE STORM BREEDER (1997)
A classic old New England ghost tale…the story of Peter Rugg, the
missing man. 37min. Available at Spoken Network and many audio
download sites.

MINOT'S LIGHT (1996)
Suspenseful tale of a haunted lighthouse in Boston Harbor, one that
has kept sailor and landlubber alike spooked for over an hundred
years. 30min. Available at Spoken Network and many audio download
sites.

DIBBLE'S HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR (2003)
Dibble and the gang perform "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow," and Jake
discovers a real ghost in the Town Hall Theatre. 55min.

DIBBLE'S HALLOWEEN SHOW (2005)
Dibble and the gang plan on spending Halloween night in the old
Mayham Mansion on Mayham Hill. 27min.


Head over to Colonial's website for all the information on how to get this awesome audio- and tons more info about them as well!

Decoder Ring's Summer Showcase Begins

Decoder Ring Theatre is now proud to present its audio drama Summer Showcase, featuring work from several writers from around the internets.

"This week, the Summer Showcase is proud to present The Magic of the Movies by Tim Prasil. A tale of suspense told late at night around a Hollywood bar... A tale of fame and fortune lost, and a terrible secret found. The sad ramblings of a forgotten man? You be the judge..."

For the rest of the summer schedule, head to Decoder Ring's podcast site for all the details!

What exactly *is* a Dibble?

Well, we are going to find out! I'm so very excited that I can finally blab about this! I was checking all my favorite radio drama places, and came across this wonderful news from Jerry Robbins! His funny radio series "The Dibble Show", which gets play on XM satellite and also had some podcast time on The Sonic Society, is being made into an animated series!

Read more about it over on Jerry's Colonial Radio blog!

Congratulations!!!

Bloody Good Pirate Tale

In 1922 Rafael Sabatini wrote the novel Captain Blood, about the sharp-tongued doctor -turned -slave -turned -pirate Peter Blood. It was made into a movie in 1935 starring Errol Flynn, and countless adaptations have been made based on the epic story. Sabatini himself wrote two additional novels featuring the witty Irishman.

Earlier this year another adaptation was released, this time in radio drama form. Jerry Robbins and Colonial Radio Theatre are all ready well known for their astounding renditions of the classics, and this one will not disappoint you either.

For those who do not know the story (and I was one who did not prior), Captain Blood is about a doctor who generally keeps to himself during the Monmouth Rebellion in the 1600's. He is falsely convicted of treason for helping an "enemy" soldier, and is sentenced to slavery on Barbados. His medical background gives him some clout with the government, so he's able to avoid the torture and mistreatment of the slaves. He and a small circle of comrades do manage to escape the island however, commandeer a ship, and decide to become pirates. What you find as you move through the story is Blood is the most gentlemanly of a pirate you would ever come across I imagine.

The acting was quite a feat for this small band of actors. Many took on multiple roles, and I really didn't realize this until listening to the end credits. In their roles they needed multiple accents as well: English, Spanish, and French. It was flawless, and Jerry Robbins did an outstanding job as the Captain. Now, I've met Jerry in person- and I tried very hard to recognize his voice during the production. I couldn't do it.

The music is magnificent as well. I come from an orchestral music background, so I would like to think I might know what I'm talking about (you'll just have to hear it for yourself if you'd like to challenge me, hehehe). The music for this production fit perfectly. Epic novel, epic music. During the battle scenes between ships, I found myself always thinking of the battle scene in Les Miserables- it had that same feel.

Along with the music, the rest of the sound effects were right on as well. Walking around on the ship, galloping horses, cannons going off, sword fights... this production has everything to make it complete. All you have to do is sit back, close your eyes, and complete the picture in your head.

Captain Blood is 7 hours long and on 6 CD's. Published by Blackstone Audio.

For the Ray Bradbury fans...

Now this was very cool to see- on January 5th a Ray Bradbury classic is brought to life in audio form!

Colonial Radio Theatre has worked very hard on this one- and from the two clips they offer on their website, I know I for one can't wait to hear the entire thing!

Head over and check it out!

They are also busily working on finishing up Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I think is guaranteed to be another audio hit!

You can keep informed about all of Colonial Radio's doings at their blog.

Radio Play Goes To Broadway

Wowza. Now this is cool. You might have recently heard The Dibble Show's Lord of the Things on yes, the Sonic Society. Well, right now the Dibble Show is doing a stint on Broadway! How cool is that?

It began December 9th, and will run through December 30th. You know, there is a possibility I may be in NY during that time- I might need to try and check this out!

Dibble's creator is none other than Jerry Robbins of Colonial Radio Theatre.

Congratulations!

Gifts for the Audio Cinema Addict

It's not all about accessories.. you actually need something to listen to as well! I was hunting around a bit (which is called procrastinating over my list of 500 things I need to do), and I found some great gift ideas for the audio drama/cinema/story addict!


A visit to Colonial Radio Theatre's blog brought me many ideas. They now have 4 of their Christmas tales on CD, all neatly packaged in a beautiful cover. Grab the Charles Dicken's Christmas Set from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Blackstone Audio. Head to Colonial Radio's website for links and a glimpse at the cover.

http://www.colonialradio.com/

Next, give those you love a little taste of Hell for Christmas... (oh I totally loved typing that!) with Ollin Productions Afterhell CD's. Pop it in after the family listens to the Colonial Christmas plays and the kiddies go to bed. It is guaranteed to keep you toasty warm.

http://www.afterhell.com/purchase.html



I don't have a picture/logo, but there are plenty of great ideas, and many different genre's over at Crazy Dog Audio's site too. You can't go wrong with all the titles they offer:

http://www.crazydogaudiotheatre.com/cds.php

If you check the links of the collective, or even the podcast links on the sidebar, a lot of your favorites have their own gear that they sell too- so give THEM a little Christmas present by wearing their stuff proudly!

All good Dibbles must come to an end

I've enjoyed hearing this on The Sonic Society- it's been a hoot! Here's hoping for more Dibble in the future!

Meeting #46

Topics Covered:

-Emails and voicemails!
-Yep, we get that area code all straightened out
206-984-2383
-Colonial Radio Theatre brings us The Dibble Show, and Lord of the Things Part 3
-More of the round table discussion recorded over the summer by Jack Ward, Greg Taylor, and Jim Munroe.
-and as always, Dr. Floyd!